R
Rockstar
Guest
Hello all, I'm in Maryland. I just recently started receiving telephone solicitation calls on my cellular phone. I looked on the FCC website and found the 'Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991' which states in section 64.1200 that
(a) No person or entity may:
(1) Initiate any telephone call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with prior consent of the called party) using an automated telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice,
(iii) To any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular service, specialized mobile radio service, or common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call;
Assuming the above verbiage does apply to my situation...
One call in particular got me steamed about the subject. I was driving my wife to work since the weather was poor; the roads were slick and covered in snow. As I'm driving down the road my phone rings and on the line is a telemarketer trying to get me to sign up for a MasterCard. Now to add insult to injury, when I ask to speak with his supervisor he tells me that they are not available and hangs up on me. And of course the calls I am getting are from a 'Restricted Number' which means the numbers do not show up on my caller ID, which I’m sure a lot of you are familiar with.
After looking at the info on the FCC website, I call up Verizon (my cell phone provider) and talked to a customer representative about the calls. She agreed that these calls were against the law but she told me that there is no way for me to get any of the callers’ information, short of getting a subpoena for their records (you would think that since they’re charging me for these calls that I would be entitled to this information but apparently not, she informed me that even she did not have access to the information.) Furthermore, she told me that there was no way for me to block calls from restricted numbers.
So what I got from all of this is that; yes it is against the law but there is nothing I can do to stop it short of getting a lawyer and getting a judge to issue a subpoena for the records then suing. I have a mortgage, two car payments, loads of holiday bills, and a child on the way... Needless to say I don’t think I have the disposable income to take the only action I believe I can take, and even if I did it does not seem like it would be fruitful.
So my question is; does anyone know of another way (a cheaper way) to hold these telemarketers accountable? They’re breaking the law, putting me at risk (arguably of course) and making me pay out of my pocket for their unwanted solicitations.
Thanks in advance for you time and feedback.
-Kyle
(a) No person or entity may:
(1) Initiate any telephone call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with prior consent of the called party) using an automated telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice,
(iii) To any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular service, specialized mobile radio service, or common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call;
Assuming the above verbiage does apply to my situation...
One call in particular got me steamed about the subject. I was driving my wife to work since the weather was poor; the roads were slick and covered in snow. As I'm driving down the road my phone rings and on the line is a telemarketer trying to get me to sign up for a MasterCard. Now to add insult to injury, when I ask to speak with his supervisor he tells me that they are not available and hangs up on me. And of course the calls I am getting are from a 'Restricted Number' which means the numbers do not show up on my caller ID, which I’m sure a lot of you are familiar with.
After looking at the info on the FCC website, I call up Verizon (my cell phone provider) and talked to a customer representative about the calls. She agreed that these calls were against the law but she told me that there is no way for me to get any of the callers’ information, short of getting a subpoena for their records (you would think that since they’re charging me for these calls that I would be entitled to this information but apparently not, she informed me that even she did not have access to the information.) Furthermore, she told me that there was no way for me to block calls from restricted numbers.
So what I got from all of this is that; yes it is against the law but there is nothing I can do to stop it short of getting a lawyer and getting a judge to issue a subpoena for the records then suing. I have a mortgage, two car payments, loads of holiday bills, and a child on the way... Needless to say I don’t think I have the disposable income to take the only action I believe I can take, and even if I did it does not seem like it would be fruitful.
So my question is; does anyone know of another way (a cheaper way) to hold these telemarketers accountable? They’re breaking the law, putting me at risk (arguably of course) and making me pay out of my pocket for their unwanted solicitations.
Thanks in advance for you time and feedback.
-Kyle